Box Score BRISTOL, Tenn. – Squaring off against the second team near the top of the Conference Carolinas standings this week, the King University men's volleyball team went five sets with Erskine College for the second time this season. The Tornado forced a fifth set with a 25-23 fourth set win, but couldn't complete the comeback as the Flying Fleet took the final set 15-13 and the match 3-2.
King (12-10, 8-6 CC) gained separation in the first set when Stephen Brown registered a kill that gave the Tornado a 12-10 advantage. Mason Casner followed with a kill before the Tornado took a 15-10 lead that forced an Erskine timeout. The Flying Fleet (17-4, 13-2 CC) rolled off five straight points out of the break to even the score at 15-15 before Jeff Sprayberry got King back on the board. That kill got the Tornado offense going again as Brown added a kill, and Sprayberry served up an ace to give King a 19-15 lead. Erskine came back to get within four, but Sprayberry had an answer, hammering home consecutive kills to give King the 25-19 first set victory.
The Flying Fleet gained the lead early in the second set, and held the upper hand for the entirety of the frame. King came back to get within two at 17-15, but the Flying Fleet offense was too much as they went on to take the set 25-20 behind a .414 attack percentage. In the third set, the teams went back-and-forth in the early going, but Erskine used a 4-0 run to take a 14-10 advantage en route to the 25-21 victory to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Nick Serowski got the King offense going again in the fourth set as the Tornado trailed 16-13. His kill sparked a 3-0 that got the Tornado even at 16 before the teams began to trade points. King then trailed 23-21 when Adrian Besson drilled home one of his five kills in the match to ignite the home crowd. Nick Drooker then capped the 4-0 run that gave King the 25-23 set win with one of his five kills in the match.
The teams went back-and-forth in the fifth set with neither team holding more than a one point advantage until the Flying Fleet took the set. Serowski gave King an 11-10 lead with a service ace before Erskine scored back-to-back points. King then got consecutive kills from Matthew Lychock and Sprayberry to take a 13-12 lead. However, the Flying Fleet scored three straight points, the final two from Michael Michelau to take the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.
Serowski led King with 17 kills while Sprayberry added 14 kills to go along with nine digs. Drooker dished out 49 assists while Brown posted a team-high 11 digs. Wellmann and Drooker tallied seven digs apiece.
King returns to the court on Friday when they host Emmanuel College at 7:00 p.m. in the Student Center Complex.
